NHL - Stars Round Up - January 04-10, 2016

Montreal Canadiens @ Stars 4-3 OT - Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Max Pacioretty scored 19 seconds into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. Pacioretty was sprung on a breakaway by Jeff Petry and beat Kari Lehtonen with a wrist shot.

Al Montoya made 39 saves for Montreal (24-9-6), which is 5-6 in overtime and has a five-game point streak (all in overtime). Dallas (16-15-8) is 2-8 in overtime. Pacioretty also scored in overtime for a 2-1 win at the Nashville Predators. He has eight NHL overtime goals, a Canadiens record. Dallas tied the game 3-3 with 2:47 remaining in the third period on a point shot by Esa Lindell after Montreal scored two power-play goals to take the lead. Alexander Radulov tied the game 2-2 and extended his point streak to five games on the power play at 2:58 of the third. He got a loose puck near the Stars blue line and went by a defender before beating Lehtonen with a forehand-to-backhand move. Pacioretty gave Montreal a 3-2 lead on the power play at 4:13 of the third on a wrist shot. Nathan Beaulieu gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 10:38 of the first period on a shot that beat Lehtonen through a screen. Phillip Danault set up the goal after he stole the puck from Curtis McKenzie. Tyler Seguin tied the game 1-1 at 14:44 when he deflected Stephen Johns' point shot past Montoya for his 14th goal of the season. John Klingberg scored his fourth goal at 12:29 of the second period to give Dallas a 2-1 lead. It was his first power-play goal this season.

* Pacioretty's overtime goal made Montreal 3-1-2 in the first six of a seven-game road trip.

* Montoya made a left-pad save on McKenzie at 6:48 of the second period when it was 1-1. Montoya smothered a rebound and was nearly pushed into the net.

* Radulov's power-play goal in the second period tied the game.

* Montreal played most of the third period with 10 forwards after losing Paul Byron (upper body) and Brendan Gallagher (hand) to injury. Eight of the 10 played at least 5:25 in the period.

"That was tough," Therrien said. "We faced adversity again tonight. We lost two forwards in our top six. We [had] to dig in."
* Therrien said Gallagher would not travel with the Canadiens to Toronto after getting hit on the hand by a Shea Weber shot in the third period. … Stars captain Jamie Benn (foot) went on injured reserve Wednesday retroactive to Dec. 31. The forward will miss the game against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. … Pacioretty was tied with Saku Koivu and Howie Morenz at seven overtime goals for the Canadiens. ... Andrew Cogliano is the only NHL player to score an overtime goal in three straight games (Edmonton Oilers; March 7, 9, 11, 2008), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... Ruff coached his 1,450th NHL regular-season game, fourth most in NHL history.

"I thought we beat ourselves. Beat ourselves by taking the second penalty, on a play we didn't even need to put a puck up near the glass. And then were in perfect position in overtime and just let the high guy go, which is totally unacceptable. Our high guy let him go, and it's another point we gave away. They didn't earn it. We gave the game away." Lindy Ruff

Stars @ Los Angeles Kings 6-4 - Monday, January 09, 2017
Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff had a short wish list: He wanted one of his players to score his first goal of the season, and two others to end a scoring drought.
Done and done. Jiri Hudler scored his first goal with the Stars to help them to a 6-4 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Hudler, who was limited to 16 games in the first half of the season because of a virus after signing with Dallas as a free agent Aug. 24, scored the game-winning goal at 7:44 of the third period on a scramble after Kings goaltender Peter Budaj wandered from his net. Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists, and Brett Ritchie, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Oleksiak and Devin Shore also scored for the Stars (17-16-8), who ended a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). For Ritchie, it was his first goal in 13 games. For Sharp, it was his second of the season, first since Nov. 23. He has been limited to 15 games this season, largely because of concussion-like symptoms, and had not scored in his previous seven. Dallas never trailed in a game that had six goals in the third period, when each starting goalie was pulled. Antti Niemi got the win despite making one save after replacing Kari Lehtonen in the Dallas net at 5:18 of the third period. Nick Shore, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings (20-17-4). Budaj allowed five goals on 22 shots. The Kings rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the third period after trailing by two goals three times. Brown scored at 2:16 on the power play to cut the Stars lead to 3-2, but Devin Shore scored 43 seconds later to make it 4-2. Kopitar made it 4-3 with his fourth goal at 4:20, ending a 12-game goal drought, and Doughty scored 58 seconds later to tie it 4-4 and chase Lehtonen, who made 17 saves. Hudler put Dallas ahead to stay when he scored at 7:44 for a 5-4 lead. Jeff Zatkoff replaced Budaj 3:08 later.

* Ritchie broke his goal-scoring slump moments after a big hit on defenseman Alec Martinez in the left corner of the Los Angeles zone. Kings center Jeff Carter turned over the puck to the right of the net, and Lauri Korpikoski passed across the goal mouth to Ritchie for a one-timer past Budaj.

* Budaj made a glove save on Sharp one minute into the second period after Sharp stole the puck from Kopitar and shot from the left hash marks. 

* Doughty tied it with a slap shot from above the right faceoff circle off a deft drop pass from Kopitar.

* The Kings had a sustained sequence of pressure around the six-minute mark of the second period, but Stars defenseman Esa Lindell and forwards Korpikoski and Adam Cracknell put on a shot-blocking clinic in front of Lehtonen.

* Kopitar passed Wayne Gretzky for sixth in Kings history with his 247th goal. … Stars forward Radek Faksa had three assists for his first three-point game in the NHL. … Dallas played its third straight game without forward Jamie Benn (foot), who might return to the lineup against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

"You don't expect to score six against a team like Los Angeles. I think the biggest goal was the first one. I thought the Kings came out and were really taking it to us. We held the fort as best we could, and Ritchie scoring that first one settled us down a little bit. I thought we had a good second period and a wild finish." Sharp said.
"[Kari Lehtonen] has had some tough times. It just got to the point where I had to pull the trigger, and I thought Antti [Niemi] gave us a couple of saves. It's hard. We're battling for our lives. I know he's battling too." Lindy Ruff

Stars @ Anaheim Sucks 0-2 - Tuesday, January 10, 2017
John Gibson made 34 saves, and Jakob Silfverberg and Andrew Cogliano each scored to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars at Honda Center. It was Gibson's third shutout of the season, second in his past four starts after he had 23 saves in a 2-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 4. Anaheim (22-13-8) has won four of its past five games. Silfverberg gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with 5:27 remaining in the second period when he scored on the power play. He converted a rebound of Corey Perry's shot, pouncing on the loose puck and beating goalie Antti Niemi for his 12th goal. It was the first power-play goal for the Ducks in six games, ending an 0-for-16 drought.

Silfverberg set up Cogliano to make it 2-0 at 14:42 of the third period. Cogliano, who had nine goals last season, beat Niemi on the short side with a shot from the left faceoff circle for his 10th of the season. The Stars (17-17-8), who were coming off a 6-4 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, have one win in the past five games. Niemi made 36 saves. Dallas lost two players to injury. Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury, and forward Patrick Eaves had to be helped off the ice at 1:02 of the third period after a collision with Perry along the boards.

* Cogliano scored off a pass from Silfverberg, but Kesler allowed the play to happen by skating down the middle and drawing the Stars defense.

* With the Ducks leading 1-0, Niemi kept the Stars in it, robbing Cogliano's point-blank shot with a right-pad save at 9:10 of the third period.

* Gibson made three saves, including one on Tyler Seguin from the faceoff circle with 45 seconds remaining, to preserve his shutout after defenseman Kevin Bieksa was called for high sticking against Seguin at 18:33 to put Dallas on the power play.

* The Ducks penalty kill went 3-for-3. Gibson made six shorthanded saves, and Anaheim had two blocked shots while down a man. Silfverberg shot wide on a shorthanded breakaway at 12:36 of the second period.

* The Ducks acquired goaltender Jhonas Enroth from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a seventh-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft after the game. Enroth will be assigned to San Diego of the American Hockey League. … Stars forward Jamie Benn (foot) skated in the morning but did not play. … Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf (lower body), who has missed three games, took part in the morning skate but did not return to action. "He indicated yesterday there was a chance he thought he could play," Carlyle said. "When he skated this morning, he didn't think it would be safe at this point."

"I like the way our team worked. Our team worked hard. Last night (against the Kings) was a tough hockey game, a very physical hockey game. I thought we played a smart first period." Lindy Ruff